Blog

by Frank Flynt

Some Highlights:
The Cost of Waiting to Buy is defined as the additional
funds it would take to buy a home if prices & interest rates were to
increase over a period of time.Freddie Mac predicts interest rates to rise to 4.4% by next year.CoreLogic predicts home prices to appreciate by 5.0% over the next 12 months.If you are ready and willing to buy your dream home, find out if you are able to! . . .

Home values have risen dramatically over the last twelve months. The latest Existing Home Sales Report from the National Association of Realtors puts the annual increase in the median existing-home price at 5.6%. CoreLogic, in their most recent Home Price Index Report, revealed that national home prices have increased by 6.7% year-over-year.
CoreLogic broke appreciation down ever further into four
price ranges which gives a more detailed view than simply looking at the
year-over-year increases of the national median home price.
The chart below shows the four tiers and each one’s growth from July 2016 to July 2017 (the latest data available).
It is important to pay attention to how prices are changing in your
local market. The location of your home is not the only factor in
determining how much it has appreciated over the course of the last
year. . . .

Keeping Current Matters, KCM BlogFreddie Mac, Fannie Mae, and The Mortgage Bankers Association are
all projecting that home sales will increase in 2018. Here is a chart
showing what each entity is projecting in sales for the remainder of
this year and the next.

As we can see, each entity is projecting sizable increases in home
sales next year. If you have considered selling your house recently, now
may be the time to put it on the . . .

Married
couples once again dominated the first-time homebuyer statistics last
year at 66% of all buyers, according to the most recent Profile of Home Buyers & Sellers.
It is no surprise that having two incomes to save for down payments and
contribute to monthly housing costs makes buying a home more
attainable.
Many couples are deciding to use what would otherwise be their
wedding fund as a down payment on their first home, as unmarried couples
made up 8% of all first-time buyers last year. If you’re single, don’t
fret; you can still buy your dream home! Single women made up 17% of
first-time buyers in 2016, while single men accounted for 7% of buyers.
According to a survey by the Wedding Report,
the average cost of a wedding in the United States at the start of the
year was $25,961, which equates to . . .

KCM Blog Keeping Current MattersHere are four great reasons to consider buying a home today, instead of waiting.
1. Prices Will Continue to Rise
CoreLogic’s latest Home Price Index reports
that home prices have appreciated by 6.7% over the last 12 months. The
same report predicts that prices will continue to increase at a rate of
5.0% over the next year.
The bottom in home prices has come and gone. Home values will continue to appreciate for years. Waiting no longer makes sense.
2. Mortgage Interest Rates Are Projected to Increase
Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey
shows that interest rates for a 30-year mortgage have hovered around
4%. Most experts predict that rates will rise over the next 12 months. The Mortgage Bankers Association, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the National Association of Realtors are in unison, projecting that rates will increase . . .

The
results of countless studies have shown that potential home buyers, and
even current homeowners, have an inflated view of what is really
required to qualify for a mortgage in today’s market.
One such study by the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania
revealed that many millennials have not yet considered purchasing homes
simply because they don’t believe they can qualify for a mortgage.
A recent article about millennials by Realtor.com explained that:
“About 72% of aspiring millennial buyers said they’re waiting because they can’t afford to buy…”
The article also explained that 29% of millennials believe their credit scores are too low to buy. The problem here is the fact that they think they will be denied a mortgage is keeping them from even attempting to apply.
Ellie Mae’s Vice President Jonas Moe encouraged buyers . . .

According to the recently released Modern Homebuyer Survey from ValueInsured, 58 percent of homeowners think there will be a “housing bubble and price correction” within the next 2 years.
After what transpired just ten years ago, we can understand the
concern Americans have about the current increase in home prices.
However, this market has very little in common with what happened last
decade.
The two major causes of the housing crash were:
A vast oversupply of housing inventory caused by home builders building at a pace that far exceeded historical norms.Lending standards that were so relaxed that unqualified buyers could
easily obtain financing thus enabling them to purchase a home.
Today, housing inventory is at a 20-year low with new construction
starts well below historic norms and financing a home is anything but
simple in the current mortgage environment. The . . .

KCM Blog, Keeping Current MattersEvery three years, the Federal Reserve conducts their Survey of Consumer Finances
in which they collect data across all economic and social groups. The
latest survey, which includes data from 2010-2013, reports that a homeowner’s net worth is 36 times greater than that of a renter ($194,500 vs. $5,400).
The latest survey data, covering 2014-2016 will be released later this year. In the meantime, Lawrence Yun, the National Association of Realtors’ Chief Economist estimates that the gap has widened even further, to 45 times greater ($225,000 vs. $5,000)!
Put Your Housing Cost to Work for You
As we’ve said before,
simply put, homeownership is a form of ‘forced savings.’ Every time you
pay your mortgage, you are contributing to your net worth. Every time
you pay your rent, you are contributing to your . . .

How Long Do Most Families Stay in Their Home? KCM Blog, Keeping Current Matters

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) keeps
historical data on many aspects of homeownership. One of the data
points that has changed dramatically is the median tenure of a family in
a home, meaning how long a family stays in a home prior to moving. As
the graph below shows, for over twenty years (1985-2008), the median
tenure averaged exactly six years. However, since 2008, that average is almost nine years – an increase of almost 50%.
Why the dramatic increase?
The reasons for this change are plentiful!
The fall in home prices during the housing crisis left many
homeowners in a negative equity situation (where their home was worth
less than the mortgage on the property). Also, the uncertainty of the
economy made some homeowners much more fiscally conservative about . . .

The price of any item is determined by the supply of that item, as well as the market demand. The National Association of REALTORS (NAR) surveys “over 50,000 real estate practitioners about their expectations for home sales, prices and market conditions” for their monthly REALTORS Confidence Index.
Their latest edition sheds some light on the relationship between Seller Traffic (supply) and Buyer Traffic (demand).
Buyer Demand
The map below was created after asking the question: “How would you rate buyer traffic in your area?”
The darker the blue, the stronger the demand for homes in that area. Only three states had a ‘stable’ demand level.
Seller Supply
The index also asked: “How would you rate seller traffic in your area?”
As you can see from the map below, 21 states report a ‘weak’ . . .